The Final Countdown

Dear Teenager...

I'm sure you haven't noticed it yet, and I'm equally convinced it will come as a total shock to you, but you start school in just nine days. In nine very short days, you will *officially* enter your very last year (Math-gods willing) of high school. In nine days, you will be looked upon by underclassmen as that most revered of all high school creatures. A Senior.

Let's ignore for the moment what an emotionally turbulent year this is going to be for me, the Mama Who Should Have Been Smart Enough To Invest In Kleenex and Hershey's When You Were Born. No, let's look instead at what this year means to you, The Boy Who Too Quickly Has Grown Into A Man.

This is going to be the last year you have someone to look at when you discover, an hour past when you wanted to go to bed, that your athletic uniform still needs to be washed for tomorrow and Please, Mom? Will you wash it for me?

This is going to be the last year you won't have to worry about what's for dinner, because it's already been planned for you. On the upside of that, though, this is also going to be the last year you have to do dishes for anyone other than yourself.

The last year you have to conform to anyone else's schedule; you'll get to make your own. The last year of mandatory room cleaning. And as exciting as all of this surely sounds to you, I hope you remember a few other things as well.

This is your last year of never being lonely, because there is always someone else around. The last year of knowing with absolute certainty that I will be at every important event in your life (because I somehow have my doubts that your future supervisor will not only hold a celebration when you get that promotion, he'll give me plenty of advance notice so that I can arrange my schedule to be there. Early, and with my ever-present camera.).

But honey, there's something else I want you to remember; especially when confronted with those unexpected moments of loneliness and dirty laundry.  I will never have loved you more than I do at that precise moment. And I will always answer my phone to tell you just that.

Even if you still just text instead of call.

Love you always,

Mom